


Coming Together

by CaptainErica



Series: Contractually Obligated [2]
Category: 2NE1, Big Bang (Band), K-pop
Genre: Gen, Mysterious!Seunghyun, NHR, X Academy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-10
Updated: 2019-02-10
Packaged: 2019-10-25 18:31:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17730425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaptainErica/pseuds/CaptainErica
Summary: Dara believes she understands Seunghyun's system, and Seungri thinks he's probably going to go crazy, and Jiyong is just kind of along for the ride today.





	Coming Together

If Dara were being honest, and she most always is because it never helped her when she was dishonest, then she would have to admit that she had no real care or interest in Virtual Reality systems until the day she had interviewed for the position.

The only reason she had interviewed, of course, was because of a little conversation with Seunghyun, to whom she owes quite a lot. Or, who owes _her_ quite a lot.

He was an interesting guy, she’d known him since she was young and entering the entertainment business. He’d been there, looking 25 and starkly handsome in the background of her first audition; he still looked 25 and handsome, and probably always would. He had pulled her aside after the audition and offered her a contract, a _really good_ contract.

He would manage her, help her find auditions, and help her get what she needed so long as she helped him in return. And then… Then she would get her reward.

It wasn’t clear right from the start, of course. She hadn’t figured out what he was doing for years, but now… now she thinks she knows: he enters into contracts where he helps people get what they want by helping _him_ get other people he was in contracts with what they need. Then, when they’ve fulfilled that part, he gave them their final piece of help/advice and the cycle continued.

For her, it had been a conversation with him at a baseball game she had thrown the first pitch at; her waning career affording her this type of leisure, still popular but not interested in acting quite so much any longer. Seunghyun had sat down beside her in her box seats after the pitch, sighed, and said:

“This is it, Sandara, after you do this our contract is complete.”

Which had seemed like a very final thing to say, she’d come to enjoy Seunghyun, for all his strangeness. “I’m assuming you don’t mean the pitch? Because I’ve already done that.” She had said, and Seunghyun had smiled a little, before shaking his head.

“No, no, the _next_ thing. It will be perfect for you, and good for a lot of other people.” He had said, a little nonchalant, though she could tell he was building it up. “You’re going to go into this building, to the 11th floor, and tell the assistant that you’re there to see Seungri about his open VR position. Insist she tell him this, even if she says there are no openings.” He says, handing her a card.

She had recognized the name of the company, had been approached to do a spot for one of the companies this Seungri guy owned (hadn’t done it, she was filming for 2 movies at the time). “I don’t even know what VR is.” She had said, an absolutely true statement.

Seunghyun had just chuckled, “Ah, virtual reality, but I know you’re being facetious. Look up the company, they’re about to launch. Go in to see him the day after tomorrow, I guarantee it’s the right thing for you.”

And then he had left, or disappeared, it was hard to say and was always a little hazy with him.

Dara sighs, dainty hand smoothing over the rich wood of her desk on the 9th floor of Seungri’s office building. She had gone home after the game and spent that night and the next day researching the company and VR and then she’d been given the job. She loved it, too. A little over 1 month in and their launch successfully behind them and she felt like she was _home._ There was another weight lifted as well: though she had come to enjoy Seunghyun, the knowledge that she wouldn’t be contractually bound to him any longer was exceptionally freeing. She didn’t think he was _bad_ , per se, she just didn’t think he was particularly good… or honest.

She shakes her head and pushes away from her desk; two meetings to go before lunch with the heads of X Academy and NHR. She had to make those meetings count, because she wanted their music and dancers.

~

Seungri is nervous.

It’s a pain, because he’s never been the nervous type, never been hesitant in his day to day life, never had an issue with confidence.

The problem is, he thinks as he brushes his hair back while standing before the mirror in his bathroom, he doesn’t know what’s coming at him so he can’t prepare for it. Seungri hates not being able to prepare. He hates it quite a lot.

Seunghyun hadn’t reached out to him since that dinner, and it had been plaguing his mind every second since then: what had he meant by reward? What had he meant by it being completely mundane? _It’s a guarantee, and it’s good for both of you._ He had said, right?

Seungri shakes his head at his reflection, tries to stop worrying about it, and then wonders why he’s so worried about something that was supposedly going to be good for him. Honestly, while Seunghyun was strange and confusing and a little scary… nothing Seungri had dealt with while knowing him had ever been _bad._

On his way into the office later that morning, he stops at a café to get a coffee and possibly something for breakfast. The line is relatively short, for which he is grateful, and he’s standing off to the side waiting for his drink and looking at his phone relatively shortly after entering.

“Ah, no, Seunghyun, I don’t think so.” Seungri hears someone say as they walk closer to him. He looks up simply because Seunghyun is _technically_ his name, but then it’s clear that the man (warm voice, authoritative but also comforting, soft-looking hair-) is on the phone and so isn’t trying to speak to him. “I’m not in the market for a job change, you know that. I’m going in to see your actress friend, you know the one, she called me yesterday because she wants something translated into Japanese.” He’s saying, and Seungri freezes, staring unseeingly at his phone for the moment.

 _Actress friend?_ He thinks; _Japanese translation?_ His mind supplies, and then: _Seunghyun…_ And oh no, is this another of Seunghyun’s people? Is this, maybe, his…

“Order for Seungri?” The barista calls, and Seungri shakes his head and shoves his phone into his pocket as he goes to grab his coffee.

It was a coincidence, he thinks as he makes his way out of the shop. He looks behind him only once, and the soft-haired man is still on the phone. This guy wasn’t related to anything.

“His name’s Daesung.” Sandara says, leaning forward to tap on the headshot she had pulled out to be part of the spread of papers she had set on Seungri’s desk. “I met him when I was still acting, he’s mostly stage, but he’s fluent in Japanese, and so I had him in today to help me out. I think he’s going to be a good choice, a good fit for this campaign. He’ll be really popular with the Japanese market.” She says, and she’s not selling it to him, she’s already decided to do it.

Seungri’s a little frozen in shock, though. Can’t believe… But maybe Seunghyun likes to put everyone he knows together, or maybe… Well it had sounded like Seunghyun hadn’t pushed this on either Dara or Daesung, it had just happened randomly.

 _Or maybe,_ a rather sly voice in the back of his head offers as he tells Dara that the plan sounds great and he looks forward to seeing what they come up with, _maybe Seunghyun just set the players up, and then the opportunities present_ themselves _to the people he works with._

It’s plausible, he thinks, frowning over his expense reports later in the afternoon, but it also seems like a rather risky way to play.

Unless, of course, there was something wholly strange about Seunghyun. Unless of course all of those little strange things, the uncomfortable aura of him, the smooth talking and the strange contracts… Unless they were all somehow related to-

It was silly to think like that, he chides himself, shaking his head. He has work to do.

~

“Why do you need a contract with this designer?” Seungri asks, and Jiyong fights to hold in his eye roll.

He fights it mostly because Seungri is _technically_ something like his employer, and not because he doesn’t think this response truly deserves one.

He sighs, instead, a much more long-suffering reaction. “Because our artists need variety in their wardrobes. Because if they always all where _my_ brand, then it will become tacky. Because every designer has their own feeling, their own expression, and their own _style_ and this group is heavier, grungier, I need this contract.” He says, and he’s mostly running it by Seungri as a formality, and he knows Seungri knows that.

“Aren’t you worried it might be a bit too… hard?” He asks, and Jiyong shakes his head. “Bajowoo… well, alright, did Youngbae approve your other thing? Taking some of his dancers and making them idols?”

Jiyong nods, shifting in his seat and collecting the contract for 99%is up to tuck it back in its folder. “Yeah, he was concerned, but I think it’s a good feeder program to grow the label, and he’s not stupid so he sees it too.” Jiyong says, simple and a little blunt.

Seungri hums his agreement and then pushes back his chair. “And you’re cooperating with Sandara?” He asks, and Jiyong does roll his eyes, but he’s smiling a little now.

“Seungri, the three of us all get along, we all talk, we work these things out.” He says. “It’s not been long, I know, but come on; we even work well with Aori and that has nothing to do with entertainment.”

Seungri makes a little face, nodding. “I know, just have to make sure.” He says, before taking his leave.

Jiyong should be more considerate, really, since he knows they all have meetings and make plans and only tell Seungri what they’re thinking about doing and don’t tell him when it’s been implemented. They work fast, and Jiyong thinks that part of it is that this was exactly the right job for him: Seunghyun had been right.

He hadn’t believed him, a child star on a bunch of commercials and talk shows and tv shows, hadn’t believed Seunghyun when he said that he could make him _better._ It was the cynic in him, the hard part built up by years of rejection due to being too small, too weedy, voice not right for the idol industry, personality to weak or too strong. It was the part of Jiyong that said that the only way he could get where he wanted to go was through hard work, not through contracts and deals.

But Seunghyun was persuasive, and also fairly honest though he wouldn’t always answer your questions.

Signing the contract with Seunghyun had been a smart decision of his, the right choice for a 17-year-old that had aged out of being the cute dancing child in jean jackets and spiky hair, and whose voice hadn’t quite taken on the deeper edge that many had believed a rapper would need to survive in the industry.

“We’ll start with this… back up dancer position.” Seunghyun had said the day after the contract had been signed and delivered. They were in his office, Jiyong having skipped school and Seunghyun having very politely declined to comment on it. “It’s the best opportunity right now, and it will introduce you to everyone you need to know for what comes next.”

Jiyong had, indeed, met quite a lot of people on that job. He’d met a hair stylist that he never let go over, and a proper manager who kept track of him, and a slew of industry friends that would never quite leave him. He’d done that for a couple of years, Seunghyun checking in every so often but not really giving him anything more until the band he was working with broke up.

“Bad luck.” Seunghyun had said like he absolutely knew it was going to happen and had been waiting for it. “Your manager is going to suggest another dance group, but you’re wasted on them, go here, tell them Seunghyun said to talk to them about producing.”

And then Jiyong had learned how to produce music, how to _write_ music, all at barely 20 years old…

He’d gotten more advice from there, all little things from Seunghyun, all ‘talk to this person, go see that one’, but it had all worked out for him. His biggest break had been as a model, but it wasn’t what he was most proud of; he loved producing music, writing it…

And then, 3 or 4 months ago, after he had gotten rid of his manager and refused a modeling contract that had felt like a stupid idea to refuse, Seunghyun had called him.

“Next week, 11th floor of Victory Ltd. Tell the secretary that you’re there for the position at NHR. I’ve already made you an appointment.” He had said, and Jiyong was very used to this sort of thing, so he agreed and spent some time looking into this company and into NHR.

NHR was a dream come true, really, and whatever position he was going in for would hopefully be as well. And it was.

Seungri was a bit strange, Jiyong thought, had thought then and still thought now. He was eager for Jiyong to join, but then seemed confused by it. The only thing that made sense, really, was that Seunghyun worked with him, too. But it was probably just the beginning of their relationship, which was fascinating to Jiyong, made him wonder at all the other people he knew who knew Seunghyun. Made him kind of wonder what their stories were, why they got sucked in.

He shakes his head at himself and looks down at his desk calendar: he had lunch with Dara and Youngbae in less than an hour, so he should probably head down and see if Youngbae was ready to go.


End file.
